I have just returned from a week-long trip to Israel and Palestine during which I met with many Israeli and Palestinian officials, intellectuals, and ordinary people. This article is the second in a series of articles written with the hope of shedding some new light on many conflicting iss

No one has a lock on patriotism. This, however, has not stopped the administration from using it as a whip to lash out at the integrity of those who disagree with its disastrous and, by now, senseless war in Iraq. Yet the truth is that those who are against or in favor of a troop withdrawa

By now the world has gotten used to the fact that following every heinous terrorist attack, be it in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt or London, public officials first issue a rash of condemnations. Next come the adoption of some new security measures, terrorism “experts” appeari

If there is a strategy behind Egypt’s rejection of normalization of relations with Israel, it would reasonably follow to ask what underlies it and then whether the desired ends have been achieved after nearly three decades of relentless campaign against normalization. But whatever th

Hamas must sooner than later decide whether it wants to genuinely join the political process and become a positive political force in Palestinian lives or continue the violent struggle against Israel and destroy itself in the process. This, ultimately, is the choice because sooner than the

The recent suicide bombings in London stunned not only the British but people in other European counties and elsewhere. I, for one, perhaps like many other observers who have followed how al Qaida has evolved since its defeat in Afghanistan, was not in the least surprised. Among other impo

However admirable the Bush administration's efforts to spread democracy, especially in the Middle East, these efforts appear hollow and hypocritical as long as the White House refuses to accept the outcome of free elections when they don't turn out to its liking. It is high time for the Bush

Right at the beginning of Mr's Bush's first term, the administration declared its intent to review U.S. policy toward North Korea (DPRK) and suspended future talks until the review was completed. The policy review was conceived in an atmosphere of rejection, in principle, of the Clinton a

While the United States should encourage democratic reforms in the Middle East, the Bush administration must not overestimate the "democratic surge sweeping the region" and so lose sight of the social, political, and religious realities that will ultimately effect meaningful reform. The